Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Bunny

All in all, a very well-written book. A captivating story full of twists and turns, with characters that are so well-constructed it seems like you get to actually know them. However, it's also a roller-coaster, so knotted and loopy that you wind up confused and waiting for more. Its such a bizarre story, but I do recommend it.

Content Warnings

maryoliverenjoyer's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

[no spoiler review!]

wow. WHAT a book. A wild ride for the weirdo kids— I screamed, I laughed, I cried. Still reeling after finishing this page turner 3 days after I got it lol. Bunny is equal parts about the horror of being in college with a bunch of assholes, writers fighting to live in a world killing creativity, the genetic itch to belong combating one’s individuality, and of course a fun helping of what the fuck is happening to reality kind of eerie horror, too.

Bunny is that type of thing where if you want this book to freak you out and make you jump, it’ll do so quite well, but if you prefer coming up with a billion theories after a read, there’s a whole lot to go on! The tastefully placed gaps for readers to make their own interpretations by Mona Awad are really well done, if a little disappointing if not warned beforehand about the ending not wrapping them all up. But Mona Awad’s dialogue, sentence structure, killer subtle parallels… when it slaps it slaps hard.

It feels worth noting to potential readers that “horror comedy” doesn’t quite sum Bunny up— a fairly short ride but still a nuanced book. Heathers is an overdone but truly great comparison in terms of getting you to feel all types of feelings about horrible people the way this book does. People with unreality (as well as drugging w/o consent) as a trigger might want to read with caution. It’s genuinely disturbing at getting you in the head scape of someone totally disconnected from the world, whether it’s because they’re lost in their own loneliness or another person. (Some really interesting takes on codependency in friendships here I didn’t expect!)

Got SO attached to the characters (though that might be just be me)— Jonah, Ava, and Max were just amazing. The Bunnies were the candy-coated, poisonous, gaslighting, hatable-but-not-just-hatable characters I wanted them to be. I cared for them all and still hate them dammit. (There was a part of the book where I genuinely empathized with them and I came out of it like EW NO WHAT THE HECK. That’s the mark of good awful characters! Done by a dang good writer!!!!) And of course, Smackie, a wonderfully complex pathetic meow meow of a woman, Kendall Roy style, works as such a fantastic unreliable narrator. I’m going to miss her honestly, wishing her all the best forever <3

So if that sounds intriguing, grab your plastic pinkie pies or a rabbit mask and strap in for a horror show like nothing else you’ve ever seen! Join me in the rabbit hole, if it ever ends and doesn’t just keep going down, down, down…

(Oh also it’s GAY. I don’t care that it’s not completely explicit, Sam is head over heels for a girl the whole book and I adored it. If you disagree you’re wrong. Thanks for reading my whole TED Talk lmao <3)

Content Warnings

ghostmotel's review against another edition

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dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

henrygravesprince's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

first, the positives:

some of the surrealist passages are fantastic, and the author is very good at writing things in a surreal way, especially portraying normal things as such
the dynamic between Ava and Samantha is very interesting in contrast to Samantha, the Bunnies, and men

now, the negatives:

some of the stylistic grammar-breaking choices work, but a lot of them don’t; particularly the recurring all-caps and multi-exclamation point moments irked me
the “gore” moments were honestly more silly than anything, particularly when half of the time it’s just “and then [xyz] literally exploded”
there are a lot of really out of place, pointless moments of bigotry that would not alter the story or tone at all if they were removed, particularly the weird references to lizard people conspiracies, the R slur & derogatory comparisons to disabled people, and the usage of the G slur to describe a Romani woman; it comes across very much as the author just not giving a shit about it

I think there could be a good book chipped out of Bunny with more editing, but it just fell flat to me. People also misrepresent what this book actually is a lot when recommending it; I wish I had actually known what sort of book this was when going into it rather than what it gets portrayed as.

Content Warnings

taviarz's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Feels very white. But it’s good and layered just felt like it wasn’t exactly for me. Loved the discussion surrounding the feeling of loneliness though. Like if A24 was a book or if gaslighting was a book

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rosesofthespring's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

If you're looking for a Lovecraft-inspired novel about the cosmic horror of toxic female friendships, I'm happy to tell you that your extremely specific search is at an end.

Content Warnings

itsheyfay's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

4.5 out of 5 stars ⭐️

Wow this was one of the strangest yet most enjoyable books I’ve read this year. Dark, zany, and heartbreakingly beautiful.

Content Warnings

purplelake's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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